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Health See other Health Articles Title: Can a genetic switch spice up supermarket tomato? This Monday, May 30, 2011 photo shows tomatoes on a market table in Vienna, Austria. Using genetics, scientists have been able to dig up the dirt on why homegrown tomatoes taste so much sweeter than the ones in the supermarket. Researchers found a genetic switch responsible for some of the sugar production within a tomato. A study in the Friday, June 29, 2012 issue of the journal Science found that the common type of tomato bred for firmness and good shipping also inadvertently turns off the sugar-producing switch. That makes it less sweet and blander than garden varieties.
WASHINGTON (AP) Using genetics, scientists have been able to dig up the dirt on why homegrown tomatoes taste so much sweeter than the ones in the supermarket. Researchers found a genetic switch responsible for some of the sugar production within a tomato. A new study in Friday's edition of Science found that the common type of tomato bred for firmness and good shipping also inadvertently turns off the sugar-producing switch. That makes it less sweet and blander than garden varieties. University of California Davis plant scientist Ann Powell said knowing the genetics behind the sugar-making could lead someday to development of sweeter tomatoes that also travel well. Poster Comment: Longs Atlanta, Georgia They pack tomatoes,green as gourds in the semi truck and then about 300 miles from their destination they open that little square door in the back of the truck and throw 2 or 3 ammonia bombs in the back and when they get to the store, they are red. I know this cause I have done it.+39 tony the grouch My dad's tomatoes were always sweeter than any store-ought. Even in the winter, we'd have great tasting tomatoes. He'd pick them when full grown, just starting to show a tiny change to a yellow color, wrap them in newspaper, then store them in a dark area in the basement or attic. Then during the winter, he'd take out a few, unwrap them, and put them on a South facing window sill. They'd be fully ripe in about 3 or 4 days.+3 JessM It not only is about them being picked green, it is about the variety. Some varieties have better flavor than others. Beefsteak, Big Boy and Better Boy. Also Improved Porters (small but not as small as Porters) tast good. It is the ratio of sweetness and tartness. Orange-red tomatoes have a more intense flavor of sweet and tart than red-red tomatoes. The more tomatoes are cross-bred the more the taste is altered and is another reason they are tasteless. Finding home-grown seems to be the only alternative to commercially altered fruit and vegetables+2 mo Ashburn, Virginia Flavr Savr (also known as CGN-89564-2), a genetically modified tomato, was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a license for human consumption. It was produced by the Californian company Calgene, and submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1992.[1] On May 17, 1992, the FDA completed its evaluation of the Flavr Savr tomato and the use of APH(3')II, concluding that the tomato "is as safe as tomatoes bred by conventional means" and "that the use of aminoglycoside 3'-phosphotransferase II is safe for use as a processing aid in the development of new varieties of tomato, oilseed rape, and cotton intended for food use." It was first sold in 1994, and was only available for a few years before production ceased in 1997.[2] Calgene made history, but mounting costs prevented the company from becoming profitable, and it was eventually acquired by Monsanto Company. Step awn Tyler, Texas You failed to finish your plagarism of wikipedia and state that tomato farmers never really adopted the technology and monsanto bought calgene for their cotton and oilseed genetics. red_dragon_hawk Fredericktown, Ohio I didn't realize this was news......produce has been "genetically" modified for centuries to look good to consumers....not taste good What this is saying is that if you use the seeds from the varieties sold in the stores they won;t be any different than those in the stores since the "switch or gene" for sugar production has been turned off. So the objective is to find seeds where there sugar producing gene exists and is turned on. Do we have a light bulb in the house ;-) ed Dallas, Texas Store varieties are mostly hybrids and their seeds won't grow anyway Always Question Get Heirloom varieties - check online for them. They are AWESOME. I've always loved tomatoes, but some of the Heirlooms are nothing short of divine! Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
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